Fans, lots of them, tune in

Posted: August 14, 2011

The Eagles-Ravens preseason game, televised locally on 6ABC Thursday night, earned a whopping 18.5 rating, according to the Nielsen Co.

Apparently, the 41/2-month NFL lockout didn't drive Eagles fans away from football. In fact, more local viewers tuned into the team's preseason opener than in the previous two years, when the numbers were also above average. Last season, the Eagles-Jaguars scored a 12.5 rating for a Friday night game, and the year before the Eagles-Patriots Thursday night game drew a 15.7 rating.

The excitement surrounding the Eagles following the team's aggressive free-agent signing spree may have had something to do with the uptick in interest.

The first half of the game garnered a rating just below 21, the pregame show a 10.1 rating, and the postgame show a 14.3 rating.

Ratings represent the percentage of all homes with televisions tuned into a program.